Better Than The Ford Maverick? We Test the Honda Ridgeline in a Family Review

In this family review, Tucker settles the debate on whether or not Honda's Ridgeline is or is not a truck.
2021 Honda Ridgeline Sport HPD Specs:
3.5L Naturally Aspirated VTEC V6
280 Horsepower
262 lb.-ft. of Torque
9-speed Automatic Transmission
Sport Trim with HPD Package
Black Fender Flares
18-Inch Bronze-Colored Alloy Wheels
Updated Grille
HPD Decals
HPD Emblem
Max Payload 1,583
Towing Capacity 5,000
Two-Way Opening Tailgate
In-Bed Lockable Trunk with Drain Plug
EPA Fuel Economy 18/24/21 (city/hwy/cmb)
Starting Price: $36,490
Price as-tested: $40,860
Watch our test of the Ford Maverick:
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#GTGarageTalk #HondaRidgeline #PickupTruck #Honda #Ridgeline #CarReview #NewCar #TXAutowriters

[@martyi398]

We've owned our Ridgeline for almost 6 months now and we really love it for so many reasons, super comfortable ride, it's a Truck, SUV, and Sedan all in one vehicle, my wife is comfortable driving it to the grocery store or the mall, commute downtown to work, can haul my dirt bike to the trails, haul cargo trailer, small camper or boat, we have cargo rack for additional cargo or kayak, tailgating and camping, trips to home depot, we purchased the RTL-E trim level and one of the reasons for the upper trim level is we share the vehicle, it's my Truck and her SUV and or our Sedan we're able to keep an inexpensive 2nd car because we don't need an expensive Truck and or expensive SUV, it's the most versatile vehicle we've ever owned!

[@GTGarageTalk]

Thanks for sharing. Sounds like the perfect rig for y’all.

[@guezwho67]

Ridgeline is a nice truck, midsize, excellent truck. Maverick, is a small truck. Different class of vehicles. Mav owner who likes the Ridgeline.

[@GTGarageTalk]

👍🏼

[@liamcarp7113]

Incorrect the Maverick is the same size or larger then all the trucks in the class. The Ridgeline is the outlier.

[@seruresto1386]

@@liamcarp7113 The Maverick and the Ridgeline aren't in the same class. Ridgeline is midsize. So far we only have Maverick and Santa Cruz in the compact class.

[@saliston]

It's the perfect truck for 90% of people who need or want a truck.

[@GTGarageTalk]

Yup

[@johnnyxcalade]

The anchor point for the rear strap is located on the bottom on the side. There's one on each side. You run the strap thru the top tether down to the anchor on the side (it's located on the side under the bottom potion of the seat) Some car seat's straps aren't long enough to reach down there.

[@GTGarageTalk]

Thanks for sharing.

[@benpritchett65]

Love the cloth seats! We are up in the Midwest and nothing is worse than cold seats. The heat and cold doesn't effect the seats too bad. The steering wheel doesn't get too hot or cold either!

[@GTGarageTalk]

👍🏼

[@rodalmighty2003]

It's unfortunate that you had the HPD model. The RTL and RTL-E are extremely nice for just a couple thousand more.

[@EricNelsonYT]

Tucker has spoken & is 100% Correct! If a NIssan Hardbody is a truck, then so is the Ridgeline.

[@GTGarageTalk]

♥️

[@hollifourniquet460]

🤣💯

[@GTGarageTalk]

@@hollifourniquet460 Can't argue with Tucker.

[@caddmann]

Well they have not made a hardbody for US use since 1997. And having owned 2 of them. It is a truck.

[@garfield8900]

The Ridgeline is a nice quality built truck. Honda’s are very reliable, however, with that being said, the Ridgeline looks more like an suv with the back chopped off than a truck to me, just saying.

[@TheModerateMillenial]

It’s so funny. What does Honda have to do to prove it is the superior truck in the midsize segment? Other than towing. It’s has more interior room, fastest 0-60, second best payload at the base/standard trim, best reliability along with Tacoma, best bed space with extra lockable storage underneath the bed, magic seats in the back that fold up like an extended cab, the list goes on. The infotainment system and dash is lacking but this is supposed to be “a work truck right?” For me, it’s more engine than I need for my small garden design business, so I wish it had an Acura turbo 4 in there for better fuel economy, but I think this is going to be my next truck. Just hard for me because I started this business when I had my Hyundai Ioniq. I love the 50+ mpg. Came in handy summer 2022 with the gas price surge.

[@GTGarageTalk]

It would make a very good work truck for you!

[@americandude3825]

Is the rear ac separate from the driver and passenger like the pilot? Does it truly do its own temperature.

[@GTGarageTalk]

Yes

[@wrestler586]

You don't clip the tether to that thick piece. Read a manual. You loop it around it, then down to the actual anchor point under the seat near the floor...

[@GTGarageTalk]

👍🏼

[@reviewhero8639]

Uh you never mentioned if it’s better than a Maverick? But really like the car seat install. You just don’t get that in other reviews!

[@GTGarageTalk]

Thanks for watching. We do that with every vehicle we get from manufacturers for a week of testing. Check out our “Family Reviews” playlist.

[@mandyohiotv3629]

Awesome truck is comfortable

[@GTGarageTalk]

It’s very comfortable.

[@mannycruz216]

It’s in a different segment than the Maverick. Only thing similar is both are unibody construction. Compare the Ridgeline to the Tacoma, Ranger, Canyon, Colorado & Frontier. The Hyundai Santa Cruz is the only other truck in the same segment as the Maverick.

[@GTGarageTalk]

You are correct. It’s a midsize pickup and therefore competes with those other midsize trucks. However, people don’t always shop that way. Just thinking outside the box with this comparison. Especially since Holli has yet to really spend any time in the others.

[@genekellyman]

I used to own a rtle ridgeline. I had a mirror.

[@GTGarageTalk]

Good to know. must have been since we had a "base" sport. thanks for sharing!

[@James-tp4nc]

How about a carabiner?

[@GTGarageTalk]

How about it?

[@James-tp4nc]

@@GTGarageTalk clip in the car seat?

[@richardjohansen5191]

Ridgeline should be compared to the Ranger..

[@GTGarageTalk]

We’ve driven both. I liked the peppy engine of our Ranger tester, but the Ridgeline had a much more comfortable interior.

[@KingClips1]

You can buy 2 maverick’s for the price of 1 ridgeline

[@GTGarageTalk]

But can you GET a Maverick 🤔🤣

[@KingClips1]

@@GTGarageTalk i already have mine 😂 i was just saying

[@kingisaac21]

Ya for the most basic fwd model, doesn't even compare to the ridgeline.

[@GTGarageTalk]

@@KingClips1 😉

[@GTGarageTalk]

@@kingisaac21 correct.

[@sdshawn29]

Not a hybrid? Compare when they have one..

[@GTGarageTalk]

👍🏼 Though the Maverick Ford loaned to us wasn’t the hybrid either. 🤷🏼‍♂️

[@raptorsfangirl561]

I like the Ridgeline better but it's at least $10 k more than Maverick for similar specs. Honda needs to lower their prices to increase the market for compact trucks.

[@GTGarageTalk]

It’s much bigger. You are paying for extra room

[@AdamS-nv5oo]

Assuming you can get one without ford mark up. But it's smaller truck, smaller engine, and lower interior quality

[@turnpike9680]

Ridgeline is bigger, more reliable, and more American-made than the Maverick, so yeah. It's going to be pricier.

[@scupking]

The Ridgeline starts at 18k more than the Maverick. You could almost get 2 Mavericks for the price of one Ridgeline... Also the Maverick gets much better MPG. Don't get me wrong I like the Ridgeline but it's to expensive... I have a hybrid XLT on order that should be delivered any day now!! If I was spending Ridgeline money I would get a Ranger.

[@GTGarageTalk]

Paying for that H badge and the reliability it brings as well as the extra space over the much smaller Mav

[@joesguitargear7742]

You are comparing a small pickup to a midsize. If you build a Maverick to make it a closer apples to apples comparison to the Honda Ridgeline, the Ford comes out cheaper by only a 5 or 6 grand. Even then, it still lacks all the extra features the Ridgeline has. So you would need to get a ranger to get a more similar comparison.

[@GTGarageTalk]

@@joesguitargear7742 correct, but the natural inclination is to compare the two since they are the same concept.

[@fredmoss4540]

The Ranger is Body-On Frame traditional pickup truck. The Ridgeline is Unibody pickup with Rear Independent Suspension. Also front seats or space between is wider Ridgeline is wider than Ranger.

[@GTGarageTalk]

@@fredmoss4540 yup

[@garfield8900]

Yuppie truck, not made for work.,.

[@GTGarageTalk]

🤷🏼‍♂️

[@unclejemima9079]

Highest payload capacity in the midsize segment. Widest bed space.. How is it not a work truck?

[@GTGarageTalk]

@@unclejemima9079 not a full-size body on frame (so the nay-sayers say)

[@jg8263]

Lol, a crew cab Tacoma (using this for apples to apples) has a bed that is only 41 inches between the wheels and 48 above and 5 feet long, compared to the Honda's 52 and 60 at those measuring points and 5ft 4" long. The Honda has 41 cubic feet of space in the bed (not counting the trunk, an additional 7 cubic feet) to the Tacoma's 35 cubic feet. The Tacoma crew cab has a whopping 1100 lbs of payload if you round up, to the Honda's 1583. Now, yes, the payload and bed size of the access cab Tacoma are higher than the Honda, but you cannot actually fit anyone in the back, so you give up 2 seats in return for a whopping 8 extra inches of bed compared to the Honda (still making it have less cubic feet than the Honda due to its narrowness, fyi) and about 50-150lbs more payload than the Honda, so what a shit trade off. Also, in no configuration of the Tacoma can you fit a 4x8 sheet of material flat in the bed, or load an ATV in it (because the narrow wheel wells), both things the Honda can do with ease. As for towing, I always here the whole: it only tows 5k argument and it gets old as someone who learned to tow when I was 12 (dad always needed help around the property and I learned to drive at 10 and tow at 12, pretty much par for the course in a farm town). The fact is that the midsized truck segment is all around 4000 to 4500 lbs of vehicle weight. Put a 6k lb or larger trailer behind a 4500lbs or less truck and drive in a cross-wind. If you survive, you will be buying a 1/2 ton. The fact is, 5000lbs is about the most you would want to tow in a vehicle that size, be it a Ranger, Colorado, Tacoma, or a Honda. If you plan to tow more than the Honda can, you don't belong in ANY mid-size truck, realistically. This is not even getting into the fact that if you have the crew cab Tacoma, for example, with its 1100lbs of payload, and a 5000lbs camper trailer with 12% tongue weight (600lbs) you now have only 500lbs left for your remaining cargo and passengers (and this ignores that Payload is calculated assuming a 150lb driver, so take away another 50lbs in my case). Using my family as an example, -50lbs (for my weight over 150), -150lbs (my wife), -120lbs (my two kids if I don't factor in their child seats), and another 120lbs (my two dogs in the bed) and I have 60lbs left for anything else I am taking on that trip that is not already in that camper. The Honda would with the same trailer and family has 543 lbs of payload left. Now, since the Honda is 5.5 inches wider than the Tacoma, you can actually fit 3 across the back seat (I can easily sit between my kids car seats back there and I am 6ft 200lbs) which you cannot do with the Tacoma. So I could add an additional adult passenger to the mix in this scenario with the Honda, no problem, but the Tacoma lacks both the back seat space and payload capacity to fit that extra passenger. Now, tell me again how other mid-sized trucks are better (because unless you go rock crawling or mudding they aren't, but you specifically said work), because everything I just said about the Tacoma is dimensionally and payload wise true for all of them.

[@garfield8900]

@@unclejemima9079 How many tradesmen have you seen driving a ridge line? I haven’t seen any….